Abstract

The glucagonoma syndrome has been the subject of recent papers (1-7) that have dealt with descriptions of the glucagonoma syndrome (1, 2), observations as to the mechanism of the characteristic glucagonoma skin rash (3, 4), or have been reports of successful or unsuccessful chemotherapy (1, 5-7). We describe here the third reported case where dimethyltriazenoimidazole carboxamide (dacarbazine) has produced clinical remission in a metastatic alpha-cell pancreatic tumor.

A 59-year-old woman presented in July 1977 with skin rash and vomiting. Medical evaluation revealed a pancreatic tumor. Plasma glucagon level was "15 times normal" preoperatively. At surgery an islet-cell tumor was found